Mistress of the Ivory Keys
by Ghilanna Faen Tlabbar
Summary: Lumina's hearing a voice in her head, Rock is bored, and they've begun to feel something for eachother. [RockLumina] Oneshot. Fluff.


**A/N:** This is the result of playing Harvest Moon for five hours straight and courting Celia. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Harvest Moon NPC characters, settings, and plots (or lack thereof). Thank you.

* * *

_Let the music flow through you, Lumina. Let it wrap you in its ethereal cocoon of silvery cadences. Become a floodgate for the notes, until you are simply the instrument that brings the song alive._

Many times she had heard this voice in her dreams, this elusive golden voice that sang mellifluously through her head as she thought or played upon her old pianoforte. Lumina listened intently to it, whenever she was having problems with a particularly difficult piece she would sit silently at the keyboard for hours, her long pianist's fingers tangled in her blond tresses with brown eyes shut tightly, simply listening.

Several times, Grandma Romana had caught her at this, mistaking her intent musings for laziness or exhaustion. If the first, she'd tap Lumina's shoulder, none too gently, and admonish her for not practicing as she ought, that her mother would turn in her grave if she found out what Lumina was doing, and so forth. It was very rare she thought the latter, because Romana's young granddaughter did not often practice in the evenings. Still, she would send her straight to bed, with Sebastian bringing her up a sticky bun, or a bit of fruit salad that was purchased from the new farmer, Marcus, who had recently married Nami. He still couldn't cook that well, but Nami had picked up the skill as easily as a duck takes to water. There was no problem with the food, but Lumina could never hear that voice, which she liked to think of as her mother's, unless she sat at her keyboard or was asleep.

Hearing voices was a very serious thing in Forget-Me-Not Valley, a tiny superstitious little town, and Hugh, Wally and Chris's little son, liked to tell horror stories about it. Lumina usually brushed off the many tales of asylums and cruel medical professionals as childish inventions, but sometimes as she lay in the darkness of her bedroom, she was taunted by the words, which would replay themselves at will.

She had told no one about "the voice". And Lumina wasn't about to start now.

* * *

Further down in the valley, in the inn, Rock was exceedingly bored. Marcus was never around to talk to anymore, being exceedingly busy caring for his wife and three-year-old son, Jon. Nami was married to the aforesaid farmer. Hugh was several years younger than him, and only liked to run through the fields with his dad. Katie was just scary. And pretty much everyone else was an adult. Except Lumina.

_Lumina._

Rock would never admit it, but his dreams were full of Lumina every night. Lumina at the beach, Lumina playing the pianoforte, Lumina waltzing around with one of her cats in the foyer of the Villa. Such mundane things, but they captivated his adolescent mind during his nighttime dreams. He didn't know why, perhaps it was part of that phenomenon known as "crushing" on someone. He'd always thought that turn of phrase was a bizarre way of showing affection, as if pounding someone into mush and little bits of bone was a loving thing to do!

The blonde male slid off his bed, and trotted down the Inner Inn's stairs. His mother, Ruby, was busily cooking in the kitchen of the public house, and his father, Tim, was away on business. He would not be missed, and Forget-Me-Not valley was one of those places where it was practically impossible to get lost. You could see the whole valley from certain vantage points both in the valley and in the mountains. If Ruby was worried, she could ask anyone, and they would have seen him.

The double doors were duly pushed open, and he stepped into the cool sunlight of the fall afternoon. The usual hustle-bustle, if you could call it that, of the main street was a little duller than usual. Romana was out, as were Katie and Hugh's parents and Cody the metallurgist. Rock skirted them easily with a polite "hello" to each of them and quickly made his way onto the manor's walk. Why he was going to see Lumina, he had no idea, but the idea wouldn't stop nagging at him until he did it. So he continued.

The gates looked more foreboding and possibly even bigger than usual as he passed into the front garden of the Villa. He gulped. It was possible that Rock would have actually turned and run, had it not been for the Mozart composition tinkling through the doorway.

Here goes nothing..

Lumina was struggling with the Sonata in A when she heard the entryway of her home creak open and the cats begin to meow loudly. She banged a jarring discord in anger and slammed the cover shut with such force that the huge instrument began to vibrate, then lay still.

"How dare you di-" But she got not farther as she turned to find herself staring into the eyes of Rock.

She flushed. Lately, she had been feeling things about Rock that one couldn't print, except in one's diary. The girl blushed, and stared at her hands, which had been neatly folded on her lap. This trait was now almost involuntary, having been bred into her by Grandma Romana.

"How do you do?" She asked quietly, using her most formal greeting. Rock looked a little disconcerted by the politeness. He wasn't used to such things, expecting something like a "Hey!" or a "Yo!"

"I'm….I'm okay." He stammered, making an attempt at conversation after a long pause. "You?"

"I'm decent."

There was another uncomfortable silence, followed by the meow of a cat and the scuffling of Lumina's sneaker on the carpet. Then another silence.

At last, Rock said, "I heard you playing Mozart."

Lumina's face fell. "I know. It was horrible, wasn't it?"

"No, actually, I really enjoyed it. It was..so..so..I don't know…"

"Romantic?"

Rock stared. "Wha-a-at?"

Lumina began shuffling through her music. "No, wait. He was baroque period. My mistake."

Rock looked at his feet. His tone was barely above a whisper, "Are you sure you didn't mean something else?"

He had caught Lumina off guard. She stared at him. "What on Earth do you mean?"

"Well..you know-"

"Rock…do you have something you want to tell me?"

He sighed. Best to get it out with. "Well, yes. Lumina…I do like you. Quite a lot." He was blushing as red as she was, with the simple proposition. He knew what was coming next; Rejection.

But it never came. She stood, looking up at him in wonderment. "I can't believe you're saying this. I actually can't believe that you feel the same way about me as I feel about you. Oh Rock.."

He smiled weakly. "It is hard to believe, isn't it?"

Then slowly, he lifted her face to his. Her eyes closed, and he leaned forward very slightly. Their lips met, and stayed for what seemed like an eternity. It was probably no more than fifteen seconds, but it was such a beautiful thing. And neither of them wanted to break away.

But all good things must come to an end. Lumina sat down on her piano bench again, quite dazed by the kiss.

"Well, what do I do now?" She murmured, staring at the keys of the piano.

Rock smiled. "Play. Play the piano like you never have before. Play it like you are the universal Mistress of the Ivory Keys."

And she did. Grandma Romana smiled, as she hobbled up the drive into the front courtyard of the villa.

"I wonder what happened to bring that change about?" She asked herself.

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**A/N:** Sorry the ending was so weak..meep. No flaymes or flames, if you must critcize, let it be constructive. Thank you.


End file.
